2023 Prize Recipient

Nissim Lebovits (MCP’24)

The Witte-Sakamoto Family Prize in City and Regional Planning

Nissim Lebovits is a student in the Master of City Planning program at the Weitzman School of Design, where he focuses on environmental planning and spatial analysis. Currently, he works as a research assistant for Allison Lassiter, Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning, analyzing the potential impacts of sea level rise on vulnerable coastal water suppliers. He is also a Perry World House Graduate Associate. Previously, Lebovits served with AmeriCorps as a data analyst for the City of Philadelphia's Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity.  

Nissim Lebovits holds a BA in Middle Eastern History from Vanderbilt University. His long-term professional goal is to help under-resourced city governments use public data and open-source technology to build more sustainable, inclusive cities.  

A portrait of a student with glasses on a green background.

Degrees

  • Vanderbilt University, BA'20
  • This image illustrates how gun crime in Philadelphia clusters in specific neighborhoods.
  • This is a screenshot showing the research by Dr. Eugenia South and others that forms the basis of the dashboard.
  • This map shows how some vacant properties are associated with much higher rates of gun crime than others.
  • The dashboard allows users to view every single vacant or abandoned property in Philadelphia. Users can search, zoom, filter, and export data. Every property is listed along with ownership data, the importance of intervention based on gun crime rates ("priority level"), how the property can be legally acquired, and other relevant info such as price and any community organization.
  • This dashboard interface shows how properties can be filtered by neighborhood, priority level, and acquisition process. This allows users to quickly prioritize the properties that are most relevant to their unique situations.